hunter vs hunts, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“hunter” and “hunts” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#3,817
“hunter” frequency rank: #18,340
“hunts” frequency rank: 22157
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	hunter	hunts
Definition	One who hunts game for sport or for food; a huntsman or huntswoman.	plural of hunt

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set hunter and hunts apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch

hunter

5 ch

hunts

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. hunter (/ˈhʌntə/) and hunts (/hʌnts/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 22157, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

hunter is recorded at frequency rank #3,817, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈhʌntə/. hunts is at rank #18,340, tagged as anoun, pronounced /hʌnts/.

Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.

With a confusion score of 22157, this pair ranks #418,646 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of hunter vs hunts

Shared letters: hntu. Private to "hunter": er. Private to "hunts": s.

"hunter" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "hunts" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC

Known mistypes of this pair

hunter ← hhunter · hnuter · hunetr · hunnter · hunterr · huntre · huntter · hutner
hunts ← hhunts · hnuts · hunnts · hunst · huntss · huntts · hutns · uhnts

Frequency comparison

hunter#3,817

hunts#18,340

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "hunter" and "hunts" be used interchangeably?

No. They are said differently (/ˈhʌntə/ versus /hʌnts/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.

Which is more common, "hunter" or "hunts"?

"hunter" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,817 in our English list, against #18,340 for "hunts". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering hunter vs hunts

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “hunter” entry
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